Ann Arbor News - Monday, March 13

Morning Ann Arbor! Happy Monday! On today's reading list: the case for cursive, GM buyouts, and Michigan won't be going to the big dance. Let's dive in.

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Estimated read time: 4.5 minutes

ANN ARBORITES SHOULD KNOW

🏀  Michigan Won't Be Cinderella: Last night March Madness brackets were announced and, unfortunately, Michigan wasn't invited to the big dance. Time to root for a random team instead. Let's go University of Vermont!

🌳  Branch Cleanup: Last week the city told residents they'd pick up fallen tree branches on Monday. After a weird week of not seeing branches picked up around town, the city admitted they were behind and had cleaned up less than 5% of routes. The city has hired a professional landscaping company for help.

🤝  U of M and Detroit: President Ono announced new details about the University of Michigan Center for Innovation (UMCI) in downtown Detroit. Designed to serve Detroit locals and businesses, the $250 million building project will house graduate education programs, talent-based community development programs, and community engagement programs. UMCI is expected to break ground this year and will take three years to complete. 

🚴  Bike Lanes: After purchasing a $258K mini street sweeper, the city will soon add safety barriers along its 6 miles of downtown bikeways. Rude wake-up for everyone who thought those bike lanes were unmarked parking spots.

😿  Animal Hospital: The Ann Arbor Animal Hospital announced Friday that it would be closing its emergency room. Citing high staff turnover, the Ann Arbor Animal Hospital will stop offering emergency services but will continue offering primary care and urgent care services from 8 a.m. - 7 p.m. on weekdays.

MICHIGANDERS SHOULD KNOW

✍️  The Case for Cursive: A proposed House bill would "strongly encourage" Michigan school districts to teach students cursive writing. As a local control education state, Michigan currently has no statewide curriculum for cursive and has no tracking of which school districts are teaching it. Proponents of the bill point to studies that link cursive writing to improved cognitive skills and better-encoded childhood memories. The House has yet to set a date to vote on the bill.

👎  Antisemitic Threats: A 41-year-old Lenawee County resident was detained after making threats to kill "Jewish members of the Michigan government" on Twitter. Tweeting from a Fort Worth suburb, the Michigan resident was found with more than half a dozen firearms and ammunition in his vehicle.

🚗  Buyouts: In an attempt to save $2 billion and avoid layoffs, General Motors (GM) offered any employee with five years or more experience a lumpsum buyout to leave the company. GM, Michigan's second-largest employer (behind Ford), is working to modernize and stay competitive as the automotive industry shifts to EVs.

🦌  Oh Deer: Southern Michigan's suburban sprawl has allowed local deer populations to grow out of control. Despite appearing harmless, urban deer destroy crops, spread diseases, and cause car crashes. From "harder hunting" to introducing more coyotes and wolves, plenty of ideas have been proposed but none are great.

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That's all for now! See ya Thursday morning

- Andrew

P. S. If you like what you read, refer a friend